Hillsong abuse victim slams ‘heartbreaking’ response from Brian Houston

Brian Houston has deleted an insensitive tweet he posted responding to a woman’s story about being assaulted by a staff member.

It’s taken Anna Crenshaw years to fight for justice after she was assaulted by a staff member at Hillsong.

But even after bravely sharing her story this month, the blows keep coming.

Just this week the founder of Hillsong, Brian Houston, weighed in on Ms Crenshaw’s story in a “foolish” tweet he soon deleted after being slammed for victim blaming.

Ms Crenshaw, originally from the US, was studying at Hillsong College in Sydney in 2016 when Jason Mays, a worship leader at the church, assaulted her at a house where members were hanging out.

“Jason grabbed me, putting his hand between my legs and his head on my stomach and began kissing my stomach. I felt his arms and hands wrapped around my legs making contact with my inner thigh, butt and crotch,” she wrote in a 2018 statement when she was finally ready to report the incident.

“I felt like I could not say anything about the Jason incident because his friend had said not to, insisting that he was a good guy and this was not a normal behaviour for him. After the incident until now, I feel uncomfortable when I come into the same area as him.”

RELATED: Offensive questions to get into college

RELATED: Hillsong founder Brian Houston to hand over global reins amid sex scandal

Mays, the son of the church’s head of human resources, was placed on paid leave and stood down from his positions during Hillsong’s investigation into the incident, according to a report in Vanity Fair.

In January last year, the married church singer pleaded guilty to indecent assault and received two years probation and mandatory counselling, the publication reported, with a church spokesperson saying Mays served a 12-month ban from any ministry.

The spokesperson said he was reinstated in his administration role and sometimes volunteered as a singer, and there “have been no additional concerns”.

Ms Crenshaw has since spoken out to The Christian Post. She left the church in September after Mays was back on stage singing.

“I’m not interested to support an organisation that’s willing to treat abuse the way I’ve seen them treat abuse,” she told the website.

“What happened with my relationship with Hillsong is once I did report to church, that’s when things started going downhill ... That’s when I saw how they dealt with abuse, and it’s something I’m not willing to overlook in my relationship with the church.”

Ms Crenshaw also slammed Hillsong’s response to the incident after they said the assault was the result of a hug gone wrong.

“According to court documents, the magistrate who sentenced Jason, without trivialising the nature of the offence, spoke to the ‘low level of objective seriousness of the offence’ and the fact that it occurred in the presence of a number of other people. The magistrate stated that Jason, while drunk and still seated attempting to hug the victim, ‘leaned toward (Crenshaw) putting his arms and hands around her upper legs, crotch and bottom on the outside of her clothing’,” a Hillsong Church spokesperson told The Christian Post.

RELATED: Selena Gomez quits Hillsong after Carl Lentz’s affair

Anna Crenshaw left the church last year after she saw how her case was handled.

Ms Crenshaw said what happened was certainly not a hug and completely minimised Mays’s actions and the effect they had on her.

In the days following the Post article, Ms Crenshaw has hit out further, particularly over Mr Houston’s “heartbreaking” response.

Mr Houston took to Twitter to comment on the Post article, writing it was a “sad story”.

“A number of things in the article are factually wrong, but abuse is NEVER OK,” he said.

“My understanding is Anna was originally abused in her father’s church in Pennsylvania. That makes it sadder. Whether abuse happens in Pennsylvania or Australia, it’s tragic.”

Vanity Fair reported Ms Crenshaw was abused by a youth leader as a child.

Mr Houston later deleted the tweet and replaced it with a new one.

“In a comment on this article yesterday, I foolishly included information that was wrong for me to share. To (rightfully) be more respectful of privacy, I deleted my comment. I apologise for any pain I have caused. I know better and will do better,” he wrote.

Ms Crenshaw said Mr Houston used her past trauma as an attempt to deflect from taking accountability of his own church.

RELATED: Hillsong founder Brian Houston lays into ousted pastor Carl Lentz

Anna Crenshaw says Brian Houston’s recent response is heartbreaking.

She’s calling on Hillsong to ‘do better’.

Anna Crenshaw says the whole situation was poorly handled by Hillsong.

Ms Crenshaw believes Mays should not have been allowed to stay at Hillsong considering its policies on sexual assault.

The Post reported viewing a clip from a recent Hillsong Church staff meeting where Mr Houston explained that Mays was kept on staff because “the Lord has forgiven Jason” and they felt he deserved another chance because “we are not talking about a sexual predator here”.

“We’re talking about a young man, young married man who did something stupid. Got much drunker than he should, which is an issue that we should keep addressing, and got himself in a bad situation,” Mr Houston was reported as saying.

Ms Crenshaw’s father, Ed Crenshaw, a pastor in Pennsylvania who has been fighting her case, responded directly to Houston on Twitter.

“What happened to the 1st apologetic tweet? Had to clean it up so as not to admit too much responsibility? FYI, your 1st response to article is indicative of mishandling Anna from day one. I assure you there are more “factual errors” on the part of your staff than in Anna’s story,” he tweeted.

He added in another tweet, “It’s so sad how Hillsong is continuing to add to her trauma”.

Know more about Hillsong? Email [e-mail]